CONCERT PROGRAMMELudwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Piano trio no. 6 in E flat major, opus 70 no. 2Peter Erasmus Lange-Müller (1850-1926): Trio in F minor for piano, violin and cello Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Piano trio no. 2 in E minor, opus 67Trio Ismena was formed in 2004 while the three musicians were students at the Royal Academy of Music, Copenhagen. Right from the start, the Trio Ismena has worked purposefully towards their joint career. This has translated, among other things, in collaboraton with such capacities as the Tokyo Quartet, Gerhard Schultz of the Alban Berg Quartet and the Vermeer Quartet.The great leap was in the autumn of 2009, when under great media attention the trio won Radio Denmark’s Chamber Music Competition, and they are already well into an international tour that will be taking them to Germany, Italy, Spain and China. The trio has signed a record contract with Classico and will start the recordings this autumn.The Beethoven Piano Trio no. 6 will be an opportunity for the Trio Ismena to show its most charming and forthcoming side from the very beginning. This is music from Beethoven’s middle period, composed in Vienna the same year as his 5th and 6th symphonies. With this piano trio Beethoven returns to the intimate and condensed expression of chamber music, but with an undiminished harmonic refinement and melodic inventiveness.With Danish composer Lange-Müller we are getting quite close to the 20th century – the piano trio was composed in 1898. Known principally for his romances and songs, Lange-Müller is a romantic composer with a flair for fiery tunes. It is heart-wrenching music and the strings sing their way through a long ascent to a sweeping, dashing finale.In the beginning of his Piano Trio no. 2, Shostakovich has the cello play light flageolets, puts the violin in the middle and has the piano play the bass part. The result is a poignant effect that underlines the music’s character of sorrow and sincerity. The music was written in the light of the death of a close friend and of the terrible news of the holocaust, which in 1944 was beginning to reach the public. A Jewish theme appears in the macabre dance of the last movement before the very last strains bring peace.